CH 6

February 20, 2021kaychandra

Chapter 6: Hostility

Translated and Edited by KChandraTL

Gongxi Qiao’s microblog was very lively, but the people who left comments were all passerby fans, and the number of fans who followed him was less than 30,000, not even excluding a group of zombie fans that were kindly given to him by the microblogging platform. If Chen Wen hadn’t retweeted his microblog, there might not have been even 10,000 fans following him.

The next day Zhou Huaisheng forwarded Chen Wen’s microblog, but subtly, he just forwarded it without even writing a word more. The impression it gave to fans was that it was a routine matter of giving face, and that there wasn’t much of a friendship with Gongxi Qiao.

But since Gongxi Qiao only relied on the promotion photo a few months ago to get on the trending topics of Weibo once, and there was no follow-up, he didn’t have popularity, so they didn’t notice that something was wrong. Those who saw some hints that something was wrong didn’t open their mouths casually. Without finding out the background of the newcomer’s family, they wouldn’t gossip casually.

After knowing that Gongxi Qiao was going to be on a TV show, his parents looked more excited than he was. Gongxi Xiong was so wealthy that he had several sets of designer clothes sent to their home, not asking for the best, but asking for the most expensive.

He Peng, who was helping Gongxi Qiao with his clothing consulting, saw all kinds of expensive watches and men’s brooches in the closet which nearly aroused hatred of the rich. Because a random watch here could match his salary for nearly a year.

Such a rich young master, you say, instead of enjoying himself as a second generation son, prefers to rely on his face and strength to eat. How could others balance this in their hearts?

Although Qiao Shao’s parents’ aesthetics and hobbies were very nouveau-riche, most of the things in Gongxi Qiao’s closet had a normal aesthetic, and still belonged to a high class. It seemed that the aesthetics of the two old folks were not inherited by Qiao Shao, which was really something to celebrate.

Because the show he was going to participate in tomorrow was a variety show with extremely good ratings and very popular with young people, he ended up choosing a shirt, vest, and a pair of dark pants that would accentuate his long legs.

No matter what the occasion was, wearing this set of clothes wouldn’t be too eye-catching, but it wouldn’t be out of place.

Shirts and vests were amazing outfits, as long as certain details and accessories were different, then the effect of wearing them was different. When some people put it on, they looked like waiters. When others put it on, they looked like noblemen with a British style.

Obviously Gongxi Qiao belonged to the latter.

He Peng had always been rather puzzled as to what kind of magical means it took for Qiao Shao’s parents to raise such a son with a completely different style from theirs.

When he first met Qiao Shao, he thought the boy was an elegant nobleman. After he became familiar with him, he realized that he was too naive.

What elegant and noble son? That was all a deceptive illusion!

This person was actually a lazy glutton, and obviously a handicapped party[1] who still liked to play online games. If he was killed, he would secretly ask for power levelers to help him kill them back. If they killed him once, he would definitely kill the other party five times before giving up.

What really shattered his outlook was that the parents of the Gongxi family expressed great appreciation for this vengeful behavior of Qiao Shao, and Gongxi Xiong even spent money to buy a big in-game bully to kill players who had killed Qiao Shao until they stopped playing.

He always felt that the family’s image wasn’t in line with their identity, which greatly overturned his fixed impression of a tycoon. Thankfully, Qiao Shao had the right outlook. Otherwise, anyone else who spoiled their children so much would have spoiled them rotten.

Although occasionally he slandered Gongxi Qiao’s family in his heart, in general, in the eyes of He Peng, the whole family were very good people, not arrogant, not self-righteous. In cases that didn’t involve Qiao Shao, they especially wouldn’t bully others. The family’s moral outlook was pure and upright, even though their style wasn’t quite right.　

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Gongxi Qiao chose the clothes to wear tomorrow and sent away He Peng, then returned to his bedroom to perform the necessary daily exercise of catching up on sleep. In his past life, he worried and labored and could not even get a good night’s sleep. In this life, he would never get up if he could lie down properly.

Even if he couldn’t sleep, he could lie in bed and play with his tablet PC and cell phone for a while.

Well, it must be said that the people of this world were very intelligent to invent such amazing things. Fortunately, when he was first born, his eyes were confused and unable to see, or else the electric light that was many times brighter than a night pearl[2] would have scared him a lot.

It was a pity that people here were not too interested in the traditional six arts of a gentleman[3]. Even his calligraphy and painting, which could only be considered second-rate in his previous life, were praised in this life. If his colleagues from his past life knew about it, they would have exclaimed in amazement. In his past life, those orthodox counsellors didn’t think much of their colleagues who came from the wilderness.

Thinking of this, Gongxi Qiao’s face showed a little bit of a gloating smile. So in the end, those self-proclaimed geniuses were scorned and abandoned by the lord, while he was in the top position and was able to be reborn when he died, with a pair of parents who treated him like a pearl.

Who could have been as lucky as he was?

Hooking the corners of his mouth up, Gongxi Qiao hid the mockery in his heart, rubbed his cheeks, closed his eyes and slowly fell asleep.

On the day of the recording, Director Zhang and a few of the main actors were in the lounge of the Red Light TV station for an internal interview with the station, all with harmonious faces.

Although Zhou Huaisheng had a smile on his face, his heart was a little uncomfortable. It should be said that since he saw the promo trailer cut by the crew a few days ago, his mood had not been very good. Because he found that in the promo, the newcomer Gongxi Qiao’s performance was just too bright, making him have a vague sense of crisis.

After the broadcast of a TV series, it wasn’t unusual for the male and female co-stars to become popular. If it wasn’t for the accident of the intended male lead, he wouldn’t have gotten the role. However, he never thought that the role he had worked so hard to get would let the third male lead compete with him, which really made his heart feel suffocated.

In terms of age, Gongxi Qiao was almost seven years younger than him. In terms of looks, Gongxi Qiao was better than him. In terms of background, his own family members were just ordinary working-class people. And what Gongxi Qiao’s family actually did, he wasn’t sure, but at least the people behind Gongxi Qiao’s back certainly weren’t short of money.

There were so many TV dramas that aired every year, so there were only a limited number of dramas that could be aired on satellite TV. In order to grab the lead role in those TV dramas that could be aired on satellite TV, who in the circle wasn’t scrambling to get a head start? One additional strong actor would give them one less chance. So the more outstanding Gongxi Qiao was, the more of a threat it was to him.

Sitting next to him, Gongxi Qiao didn’t say much and wouldn’t deliberately try to grab the camera, but he couldn’t be truly ignored despite just sitting there. Even the camera’s lens had swept over him several times.

“Director Zhang, I heard that the crew went to several locations in order to shoot this drama, so did they encounter anything rather special during the shooting?” Because “Princess of the Closed Moon” was about to premiere on Red Light TV, the TV station was happy to give the crew publicity, and the crew considered it a win-win situation.

“It’s normal to encounter difficulties in filming. To say that there were special things…” Director Zhang smiled, “Does it count that Gongxi Qiao can play the guqin, can do calligraphy, and can do archery?”

The host of the interview was very cooperative and looked at Gongxi Qiao: “Gongxi Qiao, you are surprisingly good at so many things, did you start learning from childhood?”

“I’m not that good at it,” said Gongxi Qiao, with his hands clasped on his knees, “I’m just good at bluffing.”

“You’re too modest.” The host of the interview focused on the main male and female leads, so after a little conversation with Gongxi Qiao, the topic shifted to Chen Wen and Zhou Huaisheng. As for whether Gongxi Qiao was really good at so many talents, it wasn’t that important for the program team.

It was just a newcomer who played the third male lead. There were many talents in the entertainment industry, and it was hard to say whether they could make a name for themselves in the future. It wasn’t worth their effort.

What was the point of having been a trending topic on Weibo once?

A good-looking face?

There were many good-looking people in the entertainment industry, and there were many internet celebrities, but if he didn’t keep appearing for a while, who would remember who he was?

It wasn’t that they praised the high and stepped on the low, but that was reality. They were just playing by the rules.

Gongxi Qiao also didn’t care that he received a cold reception. The other party ignored him, and he didn’t move forward, sitting quietly on the side waiting for the program recording to begin.

“Just now, Director Zhang praised Gongxi Qiao for his talent. Huaisheng what do you think of this new junior?” The host smilingly sent the topic to Zhou Huaisheng.

Zhou Huaisheng smiled at his words and said in a gentle tone, “Although junior brother is a newcomer, everyone likes him and he’s highly valued by Director Zhang. The two of us combined, Wenwen and I, didn’t get as many compliments as he did, so his performance as Xu Ruiheng will definitely amaze everyone.”

Gongxi Qiao looked at Zhou Huaisheng with a smile. This sounded like it was a compliment of him, but when you considered it, there was something wrong with it– what did he mean that he and Chen Wen were no match for Gongxi Qiao?

What was he implying?

The host had been in the entertainment industry for many years, so how could she fail to hear what he was saying? She also noticed that Director Zhang and the lead actress Chen Wen’s eyes were slightly wrong, so she guessed that it wasn’t the crew’s arrangement to spread the topic, but Zhou Huaisheng’s own initiative, so she turned the topic away and said to the crowd after a few polite words: “The recording is about to start. You will soon experience what is called “fire and ice” in the program recording,” she said. At this point, she gave a bad smile, “Good luck. Likewise, I wish you all the best of luck with the ratings for ‘Princess of the Closed Moon.'”

Director Zhang laughed and said, “Please be merciful, my old arms and legs can’t stand such exciting games.”

The host smiled and politely said a few words to them, then led them to the backstage of the studio, waited for the recording to start, and arranged for them to enter the stage.

After they were lined up, Zhou Huaisheng looked at Gongxi Qiao, who was standing next to him, and swept his eyes back and forth over his watch, his eyes becoming meaningful.

Chen Wen noticed the look in Zhou Huaisheng’s eyes and frowned slightly. Zhou Huaisheng’s words were a bit off just now, as if he was deliberately targeting Gongxi Qiao. Thinking of this, her gaze swept over Gongxi Qiao and Zhou Huaisheng, and her brow furrowed even more. Gongxi Qiao was a newcomer and had no agency to back him up, so if the team behind Zhou Huaisheng really wanted to target him, it would be a simple matter.

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